Architecture for text normalization using statistical machine translation techniques

This paper proposes an architecture, based on statistical machine translation, for developing the text normalization module of a text to speech conversion system. The main target is to generate a language independent text normalization module, based on data and flexible enough to deal with all situa-tions presented in this task. The proposed architecture is composed by three main modules: a tokenizer module for splitting the text input into a token graph (tokenization), a phrase-based translation module (token translation) and a post-processing module for removing some tokens. This paper presents initial exper-iments for numbers and abbreviations. The very good results obtained validate the proposed architecture

Estudio del tipo de alineamiento en un sistema de traducción estadística de castellano a Lengua de Signos Española (LSE)

La principal aportación de este artículo es el estudio del efecto que tiene el tipo de alineamiento en un sistema de traducción estadística de castellano a Lengua de Signos Española (LSE). El sistema de traducción utiliza un modelo de traducción basado en subfrases o secuencias de palabras. El artículo describe el ajuste de los parámetros de configuración de este sistema para el problema de traducción concreto (castellano-LSE), siendo la selección del tipo de alineamiento un aspecto crítico en los resultados de traducción obtenidos. La selección del tipo de alineamiento se define en el proceso de generación del modelo de traducción basado en palabras como paso previo a la generación del modelo de secuencias de palabras. La evaluación de la arquitectura se realiza con varias métricas: WER (tasa de error de palabras), BLEU (“BiLingual Evaluation Understudy”) y NIST. Finalmente, los resultados que se obtienen dan una tasa de error de 28,29%, consiguiendo una reducción relativa de más de un 35% en dicha tasa de error

Towards an unsupervised speaking style voice building framework: multi-style speaker diarization

Current text-to-speech systems are developed using studio-recorded speech in a neutral style or based on acted emotions. However, the proliferation of media sharing sites would allow developing a new generation of speech-based systems which could cope with spontaneous and styled speech. This paper proposes an architecture to deal with realistic recordings and carries out some experiments on unsupervised speaker diarization. In order to maximize the speaker purity of the clusters while keeping a high speaker coverage, the paper evaluates the F-measure of a diarization module, achieving high scores (>85%) especially when the clusters are longer than 30 seconds, even for the more spontaneous and expressive styles (such as talk shows or sports)

Translating bus information into sign language for deaf people

This paper describes the application of language translation technologies for generating bus information in Spanish Sign Language (LSE: Lengua de Signos Española). In this work, two main systems have been developed: the first for translating text messages from information panels and the second for translating spoken Spanish into natural conversations at the information point of the bus company. Both systems are made up of a natural language translator (for converting a word sentence into a sequence of LSE signs), and a 3D avatar animation module (for playing back the signs). For the natural language translator, two technological approaches have been analyzed and integrated: an example-based strategy and a statistical translator. When translating spoken utterances, it is also necessary to incorporate a speech recognizer for decoding the spoken utterance into a word sequence, prior to the language translation module. This paper includes a detailed description of the field evaluation carried out in this domain. This evaluation has been carried out at the customer information office in Madrid involving both real bus company employees and deaf people. The evaluation includes objective measurements from the system and information from questionnaires. In the field evaluation, the whole translation presents an SER (Sign Error Rate) of less than 10% and a BLEU greater than 90%

Plan de formación y desarrollo para el personal operativo de la industria de alimentos que asegure la sostenibilidad y crecimiento del negocio

La producción de alimentos de consumo masivo trae consigo tanto amenazas como oportunidades, ya que la falla de un proceso operativo impacta a millones de consumidores, por ello, es importante asegurar la elaboración de productos inocuos y de calidad. En este proceso el recurso humano interviene directamente en toda la cadena de producción desde la materia prima hasta la distribución al consumidor. En el rubro industrial de la empresa en estudio, el personal operativo representa más del 50% de los colaboradores, los mismos que deben estar constantemente capacitados en temas especializados en su rama industrial, por ejemplo: Buenas Prácticas de Manufactura (BPM), Inocuidad y calidad, HACCAP (Análisis de puntos críticos), etc., con el objetivo de generar en ellos hábitos, habilidades y destrezas que contribuyan a la eficiencia en la producción. La normativa peruana e internacional exige altos estándares de calidad a todos los que intervienen en esta cadena de producción que son: los proveedores (los que proporcionan la materia prima), los fabricantes (las industrias de procesamiento) y los clientes (las grandes cadenas de supermercados, distribuidoras, y las mismas industrias de procesamiento) generando auditorías e inspecciones para garantizar el cumplimiento. Siendo la plana operativa importante en este rubro, el plan de formación debe ser diseñado teniendo en cuenta las características de este perfil, el programa debe ser lúdico, innovador, motivador, dinámico, experimental, vivencial, simple y claro que garanticen el aprendizaje aplicado a su actividad, contribuyendo a la sostenibilidad y el crecimiento del negocio.The production of food for mass consumption brings with it both threats and opportunities, since the failure of an operational process impacts millions of consumers, therefore, it is important to ensure the production of safe and quality products. In this process, human resources intervene directly in the entire production chain from raw material to distribution to the consumer. In this industrial area of ​​the company under study, the operational staff represents more than 50% of the collaborators, the same ones who must be constantly trained in specialized topics in their industrial branch, for example: Good Manufacturing Practices (BPM), Safety and quality, HACCAP (Critical Point Analysis), etc., with the aim of generating habits, abilities and skills that contribute to production efficiency. International and Peruvian regulations require high quality standards from all those involved in this production chain, which are suppliers (those who provide the raw material), manufacturers (processing industries) and customers (large chains of supermarkets, distributors, and the same processing industries) generating audits and inspections to ensure compliance. Being the important operational plan in this area, the training plan must be designed taking into account the characteristics of this profile, the program must be playful, innovative, motivating, dynamic, experimental, experiential, simple and clear that guarantee the learning applied to its activity, contributing to the sustainability and growth of the business.Trabajo de investigació

Chitinase 3-like-1 is produced by human Th17 cells and correlates with the level of inflammation in juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients

Background: CHI3L1 is a chitinase-like protein without enzymatic activity, produced by activated macrophages, chondrocytes, neutrophils. Recent studies on arthritis, asthma, and inflammatory bowel diseases suggest that chitinases are important in inflammatory processes and tissue remodeling, but their production by human T cells, has never been reported. Methods: A microarray analysis of gene expression profile was performed on Th17 and classic Th1 cell clones and CHI3L1 was found among the up-regulated genes on Th17 cells. Different types of helper T cell clones (TCCs) were then evaluated by Real Time PCR (RT-PCR) for CHI3L1 mRNA expression; protein expression was investigated in cell lysates by western blotting and in cultures supernatants by ELISA. ELISA was also used to measure CHI3L1 in the serum and in the synovial fluid (SF) of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients. Results: At mRNA level CHI3L1 was highly expressed by Th17, Th17/Th1, non classic Th1 and even in Th17/Th2 cell clones, whereas it was virtually absent in CD161- classic Th1 and Th2 TCCs. CHI3L1 was also detected in cell culture supernatants of Th17 and Th17-derived cells but not of classic Th1. Moreover CHI3L1 was higher in the SF than in serum of JIA patients, and it positively correlated with the frequency of Th17 and non-classic Th1 cells in SF. CHI3L1 in SF also positively correlated with the C reactive protein (CRP) serum levels, and with the levels of some proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and p40, which is the common subunit of IL12 and IL23. Conclusions: Here we describe for the first time CHI3L1 production by T cells owing the Th17 family. Moreover the positive correlation found between the frequency of Th17 and Th17-derived cell subsets and CHI3L1 levels in SF of JIA patients, in agreement with the suggested role of these cells in inflammatory process, candidates CHI3L1 as a possible biological target in JIA treatment

Final results of the second prospective AIEOP protocol for pediatric intracranial ependymoma

BACKGROUND: This prospective study stratified patients by surgical resection (complete = NED vs incomplete = ED) and centrally reviewed histology (World Health Organization [WHO] grade II vs III). METHODS: WHO grade II/NED patients received focal radiotherapy (RT) up to 59.4 Gy with 1.8 Gy/day. Grade III/NED received 4 courses of VEC (vincristine, etoposide, cyclophosphamide) after RT. ED patients received 1-4 VEC courses, second-look surgery, and 59.4 Gy followed by an 8-Gy boost in 2 fractions on still measurable residue. NED children aged 1-3 years with grade II tumors could receive 6 VEC courses alone. RESULTS: From January 2002 to December 2014, one hundred sixty consecutive children entered the protocol (median age, 4.9 y; males, 100). Follow-up was a median of 67 months. An infratentorial origin was identified in 110 cases. After surgery, 110 patients were NED, and 84 had grade III disease. Multiple resections were performed in 46/160 children (28.8%). A boost was given to 24/40 ED patients achieving progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates of 58.1% and 68.7%, respectively, in this poor prognosis subgroup. For the whole series, 5-year PFS and OS rates were 65.4% and 81.1%, with no toxic deaths. On multivariable analysis, NED status and grade II were favorable for OS, and for PFS grade II remained favorable. CONCLUSIONS: In a multicenter collaboration, this trial accrued the highest number of patients published so far, and results are comparable to the best single-institution series. The RT boost, when feasible, seemed effective in improving prognosis. Even after multiple procedures, complete resection confirmed its prognostic strength, along with tumor grade. Biological parameters emerging in this series will be the object of future correlatives and reports

A new genotype of bovine leukemia virus in South America identified by NGS-based whole genome sequencing and molecular evolutionary genetic analysis

Background: Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a member of retroviridae family, together with human T cell leukemia virus types 1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and -2) belonging to the genes deltaretrovirus, and infects cattle worldwide. Previous studies have classified the env sequences of BLV provirus from different geographic locations into eight genetic groups. To investigate the genetic variability of BLV in South America, we performed phylogenetic analyses of whole genome and partial env gp51 sequences of BLV strains isolated from Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia, for which no the molecular characteristics of BLV have previously been published, and discovered a novel BLV genotype, genotype-9, in Bolivia. Results: In Peru and Paraguay, 42.3 % (139/328) and over 50 % (76/139) of samples, respectively, were BLV positive. In Bolivia, the BLV infection rate was up to 30 % (156/507) at the individual level. In Argentina, 325/420 samples were BLV positive, with a BLV prevalence of 77.4 % at the individual level and up to 90.9 % at herd level. By contrast, relatively few BLV positive samples were detected in Chile, with a maximum of 29.1 % BLV infection at the individual level. We performed phylogenetic analyses using two different approaches, maximum likelihood (ML) tree and Bayesian inference, using 35 distinct partial env gp51 sequences from BLV strains isolated from Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia, and 74 known BLV strains, representing eight different BLV genotypes from various geographical locations worldwide. The results indicated that Peruvian and Paraguayan BLV strains were grouped into genotypes-1, -2, and -6, while those from Bolivia were clustered into genotypes-1, -2, and -6, and a new genotype, genotype-9. Interestingly, these results were confirmed using ML phylogenetic analysis of whole genome sequences obtained by next generation sequencing of 25 BLV strains, assigned to four different genotypes (genotypes-1, -2, -6, and -9) from Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Comparative analyses of complete genome sequences clearly showed some specific substitutions, in both structural and non-structural BLV genes, distinguishing the novel genotype-9 from known genotypes. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate widespread BLV infection in South American cattle and the existence of a new BLV genotype-9 in Bolivia. We conclude that at least seven BLV genotypes (genotypes-1, -2, -4, -5, -6, -7, and -9) are circulating in South America.Facultad de Ciencias VeterinariasInstituto de Genética Veterinari

A new genotype of bovine leukemia virus in South America identified by NGS-based whole genome sequencing and molecular evolutionary genetic analysis

Background: Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a member of retroviridae family, together with human T cell leukemia virus types 1 and 2 (HTLV-1 and -2) belonging to the genes deltaretrovirus, and infects cattle worldwide. Previous studies have classified the env sequences of BLV provirus from different geographic locations into eight genetic groups. To investigate the genetic variability of BLV in South America, we performed phylogenetic analyses of whole genome and partial env gp51 sequences of BLV strains isolated from Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia, for which no the molecular characteristics of BLV have previously been published, and discovered a novel BLV genotype, genotype-9, in Bolivia. Results: In Peru and Paraguay, 42.3 % (139/328) and over 50 % (76/139) of samples, respectively, were BLV positive. In Bolivia, the BLV infection rate was up to 30 % (156/507) at the individual level. In Argentina, 325/420 samples were BLV positive, with a BLV prevalence of 77.4 % at the individual level and up to 90.9 % at herd level. By contrast, relatively few BLV positive samples were detected in Chile, with a maximum of 29.1 % BLV infection at the individual level. We performed phylogenetic analyses using two different approaches, maximum likelihood (ML) tree and Bayesian inference, using 35 distinct partial env gp51 sequences from BLV strains isolated from Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia, and 74 known BLV strains, representing eight different BLV genotypes from various geographical locations worldwide. The results indicated that Peruvian and Paraguayan BLV strains were grouped into genotypes-1, -2, and -6, while those from Bolivia were clustered into genotypes-1, -2, and -6, and a new genotype, genotype-9. Interestingly, these results were confirmed using ML phylogenetic analysis of whole genome sequences obtained by next generation sequencing of 25 BLV strains, assigned to four different genotypes (genotypes-1, -2, -6, and -9) from Peru, Paraguay, and Bolivia. Comparative analyses of complete genome sequences clearly showed some specific substitutions, in both structural and non-structural BLV genes, distinguishing the novel genotype-9 from known genotypes. Conclusions: Our results demonstrate widespread BLV infection in South American cattle and the existence of a new BLV genotype-9 in Bolivia. We conclude that at least seven BLV genotypes (genotypes-1, -2, -4, -5, -6, -7, and -9) are circulating in South America.Facultad de Ciencias VeterinariasInstituto de Genética Veterinari